Awareness of Existential Threat

In my humble opinion, the discussions within the Palestinian community in general, and among Palestinians in Israel specifically — which is our topic here — have yet to reach a level commensurate with the reality in Palestine as land, issue, and community. For instance, I find myself surprised, even displeased, by the debate surrounding whether to enter a coalition or not, the pursuit of budgets at any cost, whether to have a joint list or two lists, and so on. It’s as if there exists a disconnection from reality and facts. It’s as if Palestine — as a comprehensive name — is fine and prosperous, and that the options available to Palestinians in Israel are numerous and all "prosperous" and promising.

I will attempt here to record in my language what is actually happening, to outline the reality, even if only with words, to help us understand where we stand.

Our current discourse is not without hints that we are in "danger", yet the way our affairs and debates unfold, even if they reflect some confusion and thought, is mostly not indicative of an emergency situation, nor show awareness of an existential threat.

- The official Israeli policies have shifted from managing the conflict to decisively resolving it through subjugation and nullification, transitioning from ethnic cleansing to genocide.

- The complete destruction of southern Palestine — Gaza — and the extermination of its people, uprooting them for the hundredth time from their Palestinian homeland.

- Waging a war of uprooting and destruction on Palestinian urban centers in the West Bank and Jerusalem, crushing their inhabitants.

- Attempting to liquidate the refugee issue by destroying camps in the West Bank and outside Palestine through eliminating the "UNRWA" agency.

- Launching a heinous campaign against the people in the Negev and their communities on multiple levels, targeting everyone, not just the unrecognized villages.

- Nearly completely stripping Palestinians in Israel of political legitimacy and emptying their citizenship of any meaning.

- Stripping the humanity of Palestinians in general, paving the way and justifying further oppressive measures and policies.

- Preparation for engaging in adventures across international borders, particularly in Syria and Lebanon for expansionist purposes.

- A general Arab and international impotence regarding any measures to mitigate or prevent further atrocities in the foreseeable future.

- A complete absence of a "Palestinian center", even to reaffirm the narrative and demand.

- At this moment, there is no comprehensive Palestinian national project other than those endeavors that keep Palestine's head above water.

- The entire Israeli right — and the silence of the entire Israeli society — is prepared to escalate actions in mixed cities, in the Galilee and the Triangle as part of a doctrine focused on resolving the conflict through subjugation.

- Changing the constitutional infrastructure in Israel. The "Nation-State Law" and its essence are linked, according to the "Adalah" Center, to thirty repressive legislations and proposals for amendments in this direction.

- The coupling of ideology with deep-seated tendencies of fear and racism and the colonial essence of Israeli society to alter the constitutional structure of the country and with legislation facilitating repression and brutality — all indicate dire possibilities and the severing of the thread of politics and life as we discuss it, reversing it on our heads. The institution's belief that conditions regionally and internationally allow for completing what has been delayed in liquidating the Palestinian cause.

In such circumstances, the existential threat is clear and present, even if some of us distract ourselves with a "normal life". Our circumstances do not provide any safety net for Palestinians in Israel. From here, our discussions seem a luxury or a form of distraction in a time we do not possess and in spaces we could lose tomorrow morning.

Thus, when we talk about a unified list, we do not mean the elections as much as we mean uniting the will of the people and strengthening its support, electing leadership, and forming a kind of consensual political will to represent us, primarily outside the Knesset. That is where things are heading, towards stripping us of this political resource.

And when we propose to develop the organizational level of the follow-up committee, we do not mean the committee as much as we mean our people and the peak of vigilance regarding what could happen the day after tomorrow. And when we criticize those loitering at the "Rab Drukman" or Channels 12 or 14, we do not mean to demonize them as much as we mean to draw their attention and the attention of our people more to the profound gap between their assumptions and reality, between their talk about budgets and the war of extermination, between their presenting a form of arrogance based on delusion and their standing in the Israeli political plans.

Israeli society has surpassed the point from which it can return for correction. The fascism directed at Jews and the colonialism directed at Palestinians are as evident as the sun. In such a condition where politics moves from discourse to brutality, and from correctness and dialogue to systematic repression, it becomes necessary for the people — both actual and potential victims of this condition — to declare a state of emergency in producing their "politics" and "discourse", in their behavior and relationships with themselves and with this condition. For no one, no matter how much "political skill" or "self-deception" or "mental trickery" or "delusion" they possess, can explain to the people how they can coalesce with those who imposed this condition on him and on us without concealing their intentions, which are aimed at subjugating or enslaving him.